The present invention relates generally to hair curling irons and, more particularly, to curling irons with retractable brushes.
It has long been known that the application of heat to hair will promote its setting, and conventional curling irons use this principle to set hair in curls. A section of hair desired to be curled is wound around a barrel of the curling iron, and the barrel is heated or a burst of steam or hot air is applied, to heat the hair and set the curl.
To facilitate grasping and winding of the section of hair, rows of bristles extending the length of the barrel may be provided. Use of bristles fixedly secured to the barrel, however, requires that the section of hair be unrolled to remove the barrel from the hair, and if the hair is still hot when unrolled, the hair cools at least partially in an unrolled and straigtened position. Consequently, the resultant curl is not as tight as desired. Even if the hair were allowed to cool completely before unrolling, which is unlikely due to the unreasonably long time such would require for setting a head of hair, once the cooled curl is unrolled, it is not resilient enough to return to its fully curled position.
A further problem encountered when unrolling the hair, either in a hot or cold state, is that the bristles tend to snag the hair and cause it to rewind about the barrel in a reverse direction. The pulling and resulting time delay can be damaging to the hair, reduce the tightness of the curl and be extremely frustrating to the curling iron user.
In an attempt to solve these problems, it has been proposed to manufacture a curling iron with bristles which may be retracted into the barrel so that the barrel can be conveniently removed from the hair without disturbing the curl. Since hair styling requires that curls be of a limited diameter, preferably about three-quarters of one inch or less, the space available within the barrel for the bristles when retracted and for the mechanism for retracting them, is limited. The problem is further complicated by the requirement that the bristles be of sufficient length to catch a minimum quantity of hair to achieve an acceptable curl thickness.
It will therefore be appreciated that there has been a significant need for a hair curling iron with fully retractable brushes which can fit within a barrel of limited diameter and provide bristles of a sufficient length that the curling iron may be effectively and efficiently used in the creation of popular hair styles. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides other related advantages.